Over the last few weeks, one of the tasks that has landed on my desk is creating a training certification program for external partners. It is a huge undertaking, but thankfully some of it had already been outlined and drafted, with a lot of the collateral involved leveraging pre-existing material.
However, when it was handed to me, I didn't thoroughly check the material to be used and found out that there are a few documents that haven't been translated yet, even though they were on someone's desk since March. I completely understand this as especially when it is a periphery task, it is easy to put things so far back on the burner, that they no longer get any thought at all.
I can't do the translation, so they will have to do it and make sure it gets to me by Monday for the Go-Live, but I feel bad and have to take at least part responsibility. While it is they who originally dropped the ball on this, I also dropped the ball when receiving the task, as I know better than to take for granted when someone says something like "all the materials are ready". I should have checked for myself. If I had, they wouldn't have been in this situation, as they would have been reminded of their tasks over a month ago.
There is a pretty good team in this department though, so in general, we can rely on each other to get things done, when they need to be done. And when things fall through the cracks, we can trust that they will be caught and filled. Trust is important, as is integrity.
It is interesting, as it seems that a lot of people no longer consider the value of integrity and building trust, which could be down to us being more compartmentalized. Just a moment ago, I was talking to a colleague who I hadn't seen for a who asked if I had been in the office much, as they haven't been. I said I tend to get more work done at the office and they said they had the opposite experience, as they get distracted by the social experience.
I added that is the social experience that helps me get work done. as I am able to better build relationships that are suited for collaboration and these relationships endure, even when I am remote. A lot of the people who have been remote working a lot, have found that their social capital has decreased, as have many of the interactions that used to exist in their work relationships as, out of sight, out of mind conditions have come into effect.
It seems that many people have lost their understanding of how valuable social capital is and how despite its distractive drawbacks, there are so many positives that empower an individual and a group. What I also wonder about is what will happen over time, as people start to narrow their peer circle and likely become more homogenous in thought, taking away a lot of the random chance for new ideas to creep in, and the development of relationships with valuable reference individuals.
While technology has made it possible to work, collaborate and socialize to some degree online, face-to-face interaction is far more valuable in building trust, as there is a massive amount more data to evaluate in order to build trust. Tones of voice, facial and body expressions and of course the alignment of timing between all activity is largely missing online, but live, it is very hard to fake. People tend to know this innately, so when they are in direct communication, they are likely more truthful anyway.
Online though, no one knows you are a dog and many people use this to their advantage to either "fake it til they make" or troll. I suspect that most online trolls are relatively powerless and insecure people in real life, and the safety of the screen gives them the protection to be someone else, to where a mask. In reality, they are the people who would tow the party line to try and fit in, despite their polarized stances online. Which is the real them is hard to tell, because "real" has to be tempered in reality and while we act as if the digital world is life, it is mostly a fantasy.
When so many are spending an increasing amount of their time in the fantasy of the digital world, it is no wonder so many people are becoming delusional. It is kind of like everyone playing driving games, sports simulators or first person shooters, and believing that they an replicate the same kinds of moves in reality - not factoring in that there is also a physical component necessary to perform the actions. Yet, they still have the sense that they are capable.
In some way, we are tricked into believing we have skills we don't actually posses, building trust in ourselves that is very much misplaced. If we were ever to put ourselves in a situation where we require those skills we think we have, there would likely be a lot of failure. This is more than physical of course, as a lot of people think that they have thinking skills, when in reality, their process and knowledge is actually reliant on their ability to Google. There are a lot of digital funny people out there, who are boring AF in real life when they don't have someone else's material to use.
But, because we make our decisions based on what makes us feel comfortable, a lot of us never have to face our own shortcomings and can instead live in the fantasy that we really could do these many things, if we needed to.
Let's hope our lives don't depend on all of us having to prove ourselves in the real world.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]
Oh, working in a local government job, i totally understand that. It happens more often than you think. Even in bigger places.
I bet. There are a lot of people who have talked themselves into skilled positions, without the skills to do the job.
Oh, the adventure, the drama! The nepotism (this is a word I just learn today checking how the thing happening in gov jobs is called, haha).
Very Thoughtful and Passive Post dear. Getting out of comfort zone and try the difficult or new things is the worst habit or attitude we humans have. It's always worth trying the hard and long way to accomplish big in life. It's always seems impossible until its done and then it's becomes a norm. I would say keep trying, push yourself, bend no limits. Have a Great day 😊🙏
I have very little trouble working. I have a fair bit of trouble not working :D
"In some way, we are tricked into believing we have skills we don't actually posses, building trust in ourselves that is very much misplaced. If we were ever to put ourselves in a situation where we require those skills we think we have, there would likely be a lot of failure. This is more than physical of course, as a lot of people think that they have thinking skills, when in reality, their process and knowledge is actually reliant on their ability to Google. There are a lot of digital funny people out there, who are boring AF in real life when they don't have someone else's material to use."
This is actually a food for thought!
As I'm left with making sure I'm really what i showcase on digital platform. So as to be able to naturally earn people's trust physically.
I won't narrow my peer circle and become homogenous in thought because of digital platforms.
I'm taking my face-to-face interaction more valuable for real live trust building, as it is very hard to fake in live relationships.
So! I must really be a person of value and integrity.
Thank you for sharing. This calls for self-auditing and development at this time!
Respect!😊
Have you thought about your content circle? A lot of people end up consuming what everyone else is consuming and then wonder why there isn't much innovation of what is created. Everyone likes familiar.